And good riddance. Much as I (and we all, right? that is what this forum is about, after all) enjoy skyscrapers, Saint Petersburg is really not the place for a tower like this to be built. Moscow, sure, but not Saint Petersburg.

And good riddance. Much as I (and we all, right? that is what this forum is about, after all) enjoy skyscrapers, Saint Petersburg is really not the place for a tower like this to be built. Moscow, sure, but not Saint Petersburg.

there are plenty of places on the outskirts of the historical center to build the tower. It is just that Gazprom wants it there and no one has balls to stand up to them since Gazprom is the main company in Russia, main currency producer and also a huge geopolitical source of power for the Russian state.

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[B]"Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.” Thomas Jefferson
"We Shall Never Surrender" Winston Churchill

Gazprom said it has been cleared by Russian authorities to build a tower in the historic heart of St Petersburg despite a wide campaign to defend the unique skyline of Russia's second-biggest city.
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According to a conclusion by GlavGosExperetiza (the Russian state appraisals department), the project's documentation complies with all requirements and standards," a Gazprom unit in charge of the construction said in a statement.

Dubai's Arabtec Holding, which won the contract to build the first stage of the tower in April 2008, saw its shares rally on the news.
Construction is expected to begin in spring 2011 and finish in 2016.

Gazprom tower to be moved from central St. Petersburg
by Tom Washington at 09/12/2010 18:26

St. Petersburg’s historic skyline looks safe, after Gazprom’s planned sky-scraper has been given the push from the northern capital’s centre.

Petersburg City Hall announced on Wednesday that a new place to build will be decided soon, one week after mayor Valentina Matvienyenko told builders to steer clear of the UNESCO world heritage designated centre.

- This week, after months of uncertainty and contradictory statements from high-ranking Russian politicians, the final nail seems to have been hammered into the coffin of the project. A St Petersburg court ruled that limits on the height of new buildings on the embankment of the Okhta River, just outside the historical city centre, would be reintroduced. They had controversially been lifted by the city authorities to smooth the path for the Gazprom project. Now, no new structures in the area will be able to exceed 40m in height.

This means that there is no place for the Okhta Centre, designed by British architectural firm RMJM. The sleek, glass-clad structure, at 403m high, would have been the tallest building in Europe and more than 10 times over the new maximum height. St Petersburg was seen as a symbolic choice for the HQ of Gazprom – a behemoth of a company that more than any other has been the driving force behind Russia's resource-based economic boom.

A subsidiary of the Russian energy giant Gazprom has bought a plot of land in the northern part of St. Petersburg where it may build a 400-meter tall skyscraper.
A spokeswoman for the Okhta Business Center company said the construction of the Okhta Business Center on a plot of 140,000 square meters in St. Petersburg's Primorsky District is yet to be approved.
Plans by Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom to build a complex of office buildings dominated by a needle-like skyscraper, derisively dubbed the Gazoscraper, prompted fierce public opposition. Critics feared that the tower, which was to go up next to the 18th century Smolny Cathedral, may ruin St. Petersburg's unique low-rise skyline.
The plan was abandoned following objections from UNESCO and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
Gazprom, which reportedly invested about seven billion rubles ($245.5 million) into the project, earlier said the business center project should be changed as it was designed specifically for the location in the city center.
"Naturally, the project needs to be changed. I have no idea of who will do it. Our design company received no orders, the existing contract concerns only the previous location," the project's architect, Philipp Nikandrov, said.
"The tower itself may be built in another location, but its surroundings should be adjusted," he added.
ST. PETERSBURG, March 10 (RIA Novosti)